NEWS
Edward’s East Strategies has prepared monitoring papers of the most notable regulatory initiatives and personnel changes in republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan within the period February 15, 2023 – March 15, 2024.
A regulatory policy advisory document on the draft new Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been published in Kazakhstan. The Government plans to approve the new code in October 2024.
According to the plans of the Ministry of National Economy, the new Tax Code should include:
- differentiated rates for corporate income tax (CIT) and value added tax (VAT);
- reformed special tax regimes;
- deep digitalization of the tax administration field;
- exemption of investors from paying taxes in the first three years of the project, etc.
In addition, the Senate of Kazakhstan returned to the Mazhilis a draft law on the prohibition of vaping in order to tighten it, while the Ministry of Health proposed to ban the sale of energy products through vending machines.
The Ministry of Agriculture also plans to introduce a partial ban on the eggs export from the country.
In turn, a law on privatization was signed in Uzbekistan. The document regulates all stages of privatization at the level of direct action, including the processes of decision-making, evaluation, determining the starting price, attracting consultants and bidding.
In addition, some laws of Uzbekistan have been brought into line with WTO agreements. In particular, from January 1, 2025, advertising of beer, natural and sparkling wines of foreign production is allowed. Previously, advertising was allowed only for products manufactured in the Republic.
The President of Uzbekistan also issued a decree establishing a program for the implementation of the strategy “Uzbekistan-2030”. The program involves a number of measures in various areas, including business support.
The overviews also provide other regulatory legal acts and appointments of interest to business.